


the things you call life

by demifool



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gem/Human Hybrids (Steven Universe), Jam Bud Week 2020, Next Generation, Post-Canon, Post-Episode: s06e20 The Future, cringe culture is dead im writing 21+ chapters about my ocs now, i refuse to believe that steven is the only gem/human hybrid to ever exist, it's MY fic I get to make my ocs the main characters, nextgen, no beta we die like lars
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-04
Updated: 2020-09-04
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:42:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 16,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23993965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/demifool/pseuds/demifool
Summary: Steven and Connie are dropping off their daughter, Nora, for her first day of kindergarten when Steven meets a young girl named Camellia with a Topaz Gem on her forehead.No longer the only half-Gem, half-human hybrid to exist, Steven takes on the role of Gem mentor for Camellia at her mother's request, in a much safer world than Steven grew up with.
Relationships: Connie Maheswaran/Steven Universe, Original Gem Characters/Original Female Characters
Comments: 62
Kudos: 80





	1. like me

**Author's Note:**

> this wasn't originally gonna be multichapter since it started as a jamweek thing but as more ideas formed i realized it was gonna need more than one chapter so!  
> we vibing.  
> EDIT 5/8/20: i was NOT happy with the original first chapter so i went back and rewrote it! so! yknow!

Steven pulled on his varsity jacket as Connie helped Nora put on her backpack for the first time.

This one was new-- he’d traded his original jacket out a few years before Nora was born-- keeping the pink and white color scheme, but with white sleeves instead of solid pink throughout the majority of the jacket. He couldn’t fit his original one anymore, but he couldn’t ditch  _ having _ a jacket.

As he went to grab his keys, he felt a weight latch onto his leg.

Nora looked up at him, her new backpack and lunchbag on her back, a wide smile spread across her face.

“Mama wants pictures!” she told him. “Before we leave!”

Steven laughed a little, picking her up and lightly tossing her into the air, catching her as she came back down.

“Alright. Let me grab my keys first.”

He set Nora back down, grabbing the lanyard with his keys off of the table as she ran outside. He followed after his daughter, putting his keys into his jacket pocket as he walked. 

Nora was sitting on the bench in the middle of the garden. Steven had set it up in the front yard and had taken care of it since he and Connie moved in. Connie was standing a few feet away, holding her phone up with the camera open.

Steven walked over, pressing a kiss to Connie’s cheek. She laughed a little, looking over at him and taking one of her hands away from her phone as he pulled away.

“Someone needs to shave,” she teased. Steven stuck his tongue out at her. She laughed again.

“Very mature, Steven.” 

“Nora said you wanted pictures?” he asked, taking the hand that she wasn’t holding her phone with.

She nodded. “It’s her first day of school, so I thought it would be nice to have pictures of it.”

“Of course. One of her with me, one of her with you, and one with all of us?”

“Mhm. We can start with you.”

It took a few minutes to get Nora to stay still enough for a good photo, but in the end, they had the three photos they wanted. 

Steven pulled out his keys and unlocked the car. Once Nora was in her carseat and both Connie and Steven were buckled in, they drove off, headed through the town of Redtail to the public elementary school.

Redtail had actually been one of the later stops in Steven’s roadtrip-- the one he’d started almost fourteen years ago now. He had stopped here while passing through Empire, and something about it put it above all of the other places he’d seen. It was just a town that said “home.” He and Connie had bought a house here and moved in together nine years ago. 

Steven pulled into the school parking lot, finding an empty space that wasn’t labelled “staff” and parking there. He helped Nora out of her carseat as Connie grabbed her bag. 

Once Nora had her backpack on again, Steven took her right hand, Connie took her left, and they headed into the school.

They headed to Nora’s classroom, remembering the route from the open house they’d gone to a few weeks prior. 

The classroom had multiple round tables spread throughout, with cubbies lining one of the walls and the teacher’s desk sitting at the front of the class, opposite from where Connie, Steven, and Nora were walking in. Nora’s teacher, Ms. Green, was talking to another parent and her kid.

Ms. Green noticed the family waiting near the doorway, giving a “one second” to the family she had been talking to before turning to them.    
  


“All the students have a cubby assigned to them, so if you could find yours and put your bag away, that’d be great!”

“I’ll help her find it,” Connie said, smiling at Steven. She took Nora’s hand again as they headed to find her cubby.

Steven moved against the wall next to the doorway to wait. He and Connie had a few things they wanted to mention to Ms. Green (mainly that Nora was a very energetic kid and to be aware of that), but she was still talking to the other family.

While he was waiting, he felt a tug on his jacket. He looked down, seeing the girl that had been with her mother talking to Ms. Green. He glanced over to the mother, still talking with the teacher.

“Uh… hi?” he said.

“Are you Steven Universe?” the little girl asked. She spoke with a little bit of a lisp.

Steven froze for a second. Usually, that question was followed by someone trying to kill him. But those people were usually Gems, and this was a little girl, and that hadn’t happened in fifteen years. He took a deep breath in before responding.

“Uh. Yes?”

Her awed expression slowly switched to one of glee.

“My momma told me all about you!” she said. “She said you saved the universe, and that Ma was on Earth because of you, so you’re the reason they met! You’re like me!”

Of all the things she told him in that sentence, the last three words are what caught in Steven’s mind.

“What?” 

She flapped her hands a little. “My name’s Camellia!” She reached up and pushed her bangs back. “I’m like you!”

On her head was a golden, circular Gem-- a Topaz, by the looks of it.

Steven’s hand shot up to his shirt, over where his Gem was hidden.

This little girl-- Camellia-- had a Gem.

This little girl was a Gem-human hybrid.

_ This little girl was like him. _

“ _ What? _ ”

Before Camellia could respond (and probably just make Steven freak out more), another pair of hands was picking her up.

“I’m  _ so  _ sorry, sir,” the woman he assumed was her mother said. She quickly said something to Camellia in Spanish, too quiet for Steven to pick it up. Camellia responded, again too quiet for Steven to pick up anything other than a guilty tone.

“No-- no, it’s alright,” Steven said. “No worries.”

“I’m guessing Camellia’s already introduced herself,” she said. “But I’m Lea Martinez.”

“Steven Universe. It’s nice to meet you.”

Lea paused, glancing at Camellia, then back at Steven.“Oh. Wow. Hi. Sorry, I didn’t-- Camellia’s been asking anyone who so much as wears a pink jacket if they’re you for a year now, so I, uh, didn’t think it would actually be you.”

Steven laughed a little. “Wow.”

“Still, I’m so sorry, uh… what should I call you? Since-- you know.”

“Oh, uh-- I don’t do formalities. Just Steven is fine.”

“Alright, well, I’m so sorry, Steven.”

“But there’s still no need to apologize.”

The conversation paused for a moment before Steven decided to ask for confirmation.

“Her mom’s a Topaz, right?”

Lea nodded. “Yeah. Moved here ten years ago.”

“Huh.”

_ She was like him _ .

“She’s in this class, I’m guessing?”

“Yeah,” Lea confirmed.

“My daughter is too.”

He felt a weight latch on to his leg. 

“Speaking of my daughter,” he laughed, “this is Nora.” He gestured downwards. He glanced to the side to confirm before adding, “And this is my wife, Connie.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Lea said. “I’m Lea. This is Camellia.”

Before Connie could even respond with a “it’s nice to meet you too,” Camellia said, once again, “I’m like him!”

Connie blinked, laughing a little. “I’m sorry, what?”

“She’s, uh--” Steven started, before Camellia reached up to push her bangs back again, letting Connie see her Gem for herself. 

Connie stared for a few seconds, mouthing a silent “ _ oh. _ ”

Steven nodded, chuckling awkwardly. “Yeah.”

Connie shot him a glance that he easily read as  _ I thought you were the only one, what’s going on? _ Steven responded with his own look of  _ We can talk about it in the car. _

“Well, uh… we should probably get going,” Steven said, all thoughts of talking to Ms.Green lost, especially since the official start of the school day was nearing.

“Yeah,” Lea said. “Oh, wait, hold on, what’s your number? I’d like to talk to you two again.”

“Oh, I can just put it in your phone, if that’s alright?”

Lea nodded. “That’s fine.” She set down Camellia and pulled her phone from her pockets, opening her contacts before handing it to Steven. He quickly made a contact for himself and one for Connie.

“Thanks,” Lea said.

“Yeah, no problem,” Steven said. He ruffled Nora’s hair, kneeling down to her height. “Have a good day, sweetheart, alright?”

Nora nodded before rushing off to talk to the other kids, Camellia following close behind. 

“It was really nice meeting you,” Lea said. 

Steven nodded. “You too.”

Connie took his hand as they walked out of the classroom.


	2. talks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven and Connie process, and Lea has a request.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (IMPORTANT! i rewrote the first chapter, if you haven't seen the updated version PLEASE check it out it's so much better than the og version and it's actually beta read)  
> finally updated babey!! this chapter took a bit bc it's dialogue heavy and i'm not super confident in my dialogue writing abilities but! yknow!  
> it has like. 300 more words than the first chapter so i am vibing  
> (also i didn't mention this last chapter but i got the title for this fic from a title generator that took lyrics from the oh hellos so. yeah!)  
> enjoy!

Steven and Connie pulled their doors shut at almost exactly the same time.

Steven sat there, tense, staring straight ahead but unable to focus on anything.

“Steven,” Connie said. “That wasn’t a dream, right? She-- Camellia’s--”

“She’s like me,” Steven confirmed. “She’s half Gem.”

There was silence for a few seconds as both of them processed that.

“How did we not know?”

“Gems don’t have to report everything they do anymore,” Steven said. “Her mom-- Topaz-- moved here ten years ago? The news probably just-- didn’t make it to anyone that would’ve told us.”

Another few seconds of silence.

  
“Could there be more?” Connie asked. “That we don’t know about?”

Steven put his hands to his face. “I’m going to have a crisis if I think about that.”

“I think I am too. Back to the original topic?”

“Back to the original topic,” Steven agreed, letting his hands fall back to their resting position on the steering wheel.

“So Camellia’s half Gem.”

“Yeah.”

“And her mom’s a Topaz.”   
  


“Yes.”

“Do you think she knows any Gems?”

Steven shook his head. “There’s no Gems in Redtail, as far as I know. I’m probably the closest she’s ever gotten to meeting a Gem. But her mom-- her  _ human _ mom-- told her about me, I guess, so she probably knows some Gem stuff?”

Connie nodded. “But she’s being raised human.”

“She  _ is _ human,” Steven said. “Well-- half. But there’s no such thing as being raised Gem, really, nothing that’s really healthy? Gems don’t have a childhood. They aren’t raised.”

“Yeah, that’s… fair. But what I mean is-- like, her powers.”

“Mine didn’t show up until I was 12.”

“Yeah, but what happens when they show up?”

Steven was quiet for a few seconds. “It’s-- I’m not her parent. That’s for Lea to figure out, really.”

\---

Steven stared at the screen, trying to register what Lea had said.

“It’s-- it’s okay if it’s a no,” Lea said, “but if you’re okay with it-- I don’t know any other Gems. Topaz was the first Gem I ever met. And Camellia’s going to have powers, and I have no idea how to help her with them when they show up! But you did it already, so you would!”

Steven fumbled for an answer. “I, uh.” He couldn’t find one. “Can I-- get back to you on that?”

Lea nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, of course. Just-- please think about it. Thank you.”

“I’ll let you know later? When I decide?”

“Yeah. Thank you. I’ll talk to you later, Steven.”

“It was nice talking to you, bye,” Steven said, hanging up the video call. He leaned back in the chair, his eyes losing focus as he tried to process Lea’s request.

He heard Connie’s footsteps coming downstairs, turning to see her reach the bottom of the stairs, an empty cup in hand. She met his eyes, smiling at him before noticing his expression.

“Are you alright?” she asked.

“Lea called,” Steven said. “And she asked me if I’d be willing to train Camellia when her powers show up.”

“Oh,” Connie said after a moment. “What’d you say?”

“I didn’t answer. I said I’d get back to her.”

“Alright. Do you want to talk it through with me?”

Steven nodded. “If you have time.”

“I do. Talk to me,” she said, finally walking over and sitting down across from him.

“I’ve done it before,” Steven started. “I had to learn to use my powers. I have experience that normal Gems don’t have. I could use it to help train Camellia.”

“Yeah, you do,” Connie agreed. “But that doesn’t make you obligated to train her if you don’t want to.”

“I know. But things are safer now. It wouldn’t be like me learning to use my powers. There wouldn’t be real fights. She wouldn’t have to deal with any of the things I did growing up.”

Connie nodded. 

“And I don’t think it’d really be bad for me, either. It would be safe for both of us. I can help train her, she learns to control her powers, there’s not really a loss there, is there?”

“As long as you’re okay with it, there isn’t. Do you  _ want _ to train her, Steven?”

Steven thought for a minute. 

He could help her. She was like him, and he could help her. 

“I do, yeah.”

Connie smiled. “Then you can call Lea back whenever you’re ready. I’m sure she’d be happy to hear it.”

Steven nodded. “I think I’m gonna think on it for a bit? I want to be sure that I’m up for it.”

“Alright. Let me know if you want to talk again, alright? I’m gonna refill my water and go back to work,” she said, standing.

“Alright. I love you.”

“I love you too, biscuit.”

\---

It was a little past lunchtime the next day when Steven finally called Lea back.

“You’ll do it?” she asked, as if he was pulling some kind of prank on her.

“Yeah,” and he could see relief finally settle in on the screen, “but would it be alright if we talked out the details in person? Would you be able to come over for dinner tonight?”

“That’d be great. I don’t have any plans tonight, so yeah. When do you want us over?”

“6:30 would work.”

“Alright, what’s your address?”

\---

Once Camellia and Nora were upstairs, Steven, Connie, and Lea settled in the living room to talk.

“So,” Steven started. “This might be a weird question, but just to check, has Camellia ever been to the doctors.”

Lea nodded. “Uh, yeah? She has yearly checkups, she’s caught up on her vaccinations-- why?”

“No reason.” 

_ She’s doing better than I was at her age _ , he thought.

“Moving on-- powers? Since, you know. That’s gonna be my job to help with.”

Lea shrugged. “Nothing serious, yet. Her Gem glows, sometimes?”

“That’s-- well, as far as I know that’s normal. Mine glowed when I was little.”

“What about physical strength?” Connie spoke up. “I mean-- Steven’s always been strong, even before his Gem powers showed up.”

“Camellia is strong for her age, yeah,” Lea confirmed. “Nothing really big, but she’s definitely strong.”

Steven nodded. “Well, I don’t know if she’ll be the same as me, but my powers didn’t show up until I was 11? And I didn’t really start training until I was 12, but that was because it was more dangerous when I was little. 

“I don’t think she should be kept away from Gem stuff, really-- I was kind of separated from human stuff, and it wasn’t really good for me? I think that goes for both halves, Gem and human. So even if we’re waiting to start training until she’s older, she should be allowed to learn about Gem stuff.”

“I don’t know a lot about Gem stuff,” Lea said. “I know what Topaz told me, and it wasn’t a lot? Just that-- it was Era 3, you championed that Era, who the Diamonds are, and the basics of what a Gem is.”

“I can teach her anything she wants to know,” Steven said. “Maybe eventually you two can come with us when we visit Beach City? That’s where the Crystal Gems live, and Little Homeworld isn’t too far away.”

“Alright. Was that it?”

“I mean, I think so. We aren’t starting training until she’s older… she should be kept in tune with both halves… uh, I don’t think there’s anything else?”

Connie spoke up again. “Do you know what Topaz’s weapon was?”

Lea blinked. “Weapon?”

“I’ll take that as a no,” Connie said. “Some Gems can summon a weapon. Steven’s is a shield.”

“Oh. Yeah, no, I don’t know.”

“Hmm.” Steven thought for a second. “I don’t think there were many Era 2 Topazes, at least not on Homeworld, so she probably had one. We’ll just have to wait to find out what it is.”

“Alright.”

It was silent for a moment.

“Well, since that’s out of the way,” Connie said, breaking the silence, “and Camellia and Nora are still playing, let’s actually get to know each other.”

“Oh, well, uh. I was raised in California? My grandparents had moved there when my parents were little, and we all lived together. I moved out here for college and didn’t move back.”

“California’s nice,” Connie said. “My family moved around a lot.”

“I saw it on my road trip,” Steven added. “But I was raised in Delmarva.”

“Road trip?” Lea asked.

“Oh, I did this self-exploration thing when I was seventeen. Drove around the entire country to figure out where I wanted to live. I loved Redtail so much that I decided on moving here.”

“Hold on-- you went on a cross-country road trip at  _ seventeen? _ ”

Steven nodded, chuckling a little. “I did weirder things as a teenager.”

“I--” Lea fumbled for words for a minute. “Alright then.”

“What was it about Redtail that made you stay?” Connie asked Lea.

“...If I’m being honest, it was Topaz.”

Steven laughed again. “You sound like my dad.”

“What?” 

“He stopped touring as Mr. Universe and stayed in Beach City because of my mom.”

“Oh. Well-- I didn’t stop touring for her, I just… didn’t move back after I graduated.” She sighed a little. “Topaz was just-- wow. I’d never met a Gem before, but-- she was so nice, and so willing to teach me. I loved her so much.”

Steven smiled. 

He heard footsteps rushing downstairs, turning towards the entryway to the living room to see Camellia rushing in with Nora behind her, both clutching a piece of paper.

She ran up to Lea, holding the paper up towards her. “Momma! Look!”

Nora had climbed up onto the couch between Steven and Connie, and was currently showing off a simple drawing of a yellow flower.

“That’s really good, sweetheart,” Lea said to Camellia, smiling. “Why don’t you show Steven?”

Camellia nodded, pulling the paper back and running the short distance between the chair where Camellia was sitting to Steven’s spot on the couch. 

“Look!” she said, holding up the paper.

On it was a drawing of her and Steven, both with their Gems drawn on and shining. Her name was scribbled in the lower left corner.

“It’s us! It’s for you!”

Steven smiled, gently taking it from her hands.

“That’s sweet. Thank you.”

The next morning, a magnet held it to the fridge next to Nora’s flower.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOO!! this is probably my last chapter w Baby Nora and Baby Camellia just bc of pacing and stuff, not much interesting happens when they're younger so?  
> i hope u enjoyed!! pls kudos/bookmark/comment!   
> my su tumblr is gemi-fool so if u like my stuff pls follow me there! i post lil things abt writing the series sometimes and i'll be posting references as the story progresses, just to avoid spoiling things by posting a character ref too early  
> another thank you to my beta reader, trillwavesdrip on tumblr!


	3. six years later

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Gems can shapeshift,” Cam cut in. “I don’t think it’s weird.”
> 
> The conversation paused for a second. Yona looked up from her book.
> 
> “Can you shapeshift?” Otto asked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yall already KNOW whats going down.  
> also if theres any "wtf" moments abt nora or cam im gonna try to explain stuff in the end notes just to not spoil anything so!! yeah  
> (also, im not fully bilingual nor can i speak spanish, if you are/can PLEASE let me know if i ever write cam or lea awkwardly or mistranslate something)  
> beta read by trillwavesdrip on tumblr!  
> enjoy!

The drawing came down eventually. 

It was replaced by a new one, and then that one by another, the cycle continuing with each old drawing put away in a folder. The drawings turned from scribbles loosely resembling a person to slightly more clean pieces, though still clearly being made by a child.

And with the growth of her art, Camellia grew as well. 

Even with her growth stagnating like Steven’s had, Cam, as she’d been nicknamed by Nora when they were still in kindergarten, was clearly older now, eleven years old and a few months into sixth grade. Her Gem was still covered by her bangs, and she’d begun regularly wearing shirts with a sequined star in the center, sparkling gold standing out against the pastel yellow. 

She tugged on the denim vest she wore, fixing the way it fit under her backpack. Once it felt right, she grabbed and held onto her backpack’s straps as she headed through the halls of the middle school.

As she turned onto the hallway that led to the doors, a familiar voice called out.

“Cam!” She looked towards the voice, seeing a shorter boy with his hand raised. She smiled, heading over to her friends.

Nora was fixing the way her ponytail fit in her beanie. Yona stood next to her, paging through the book they were reading for English. Otto pulled his hand down, giving Cam a gentle bump on the shoulder.

“Hey!” she said, smiling.

“Hey, Cam,” Nora responded, finishing fixing her hair and smiling back at her.

“Cam, we need your opinion,” Otto said. “Our book for English--”

“ _ Elephant in the Room _ ,” Yona specified.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. It doesn’t make  _ sense, _ right?”

Cam shrugged. “I don’t know. I think it does?”

“But they don’t like Xavier because he’s a  _ shapeshifter. _ Shapeshifting is  _ cool. _ ”

“They don’t like him because he isn’t  _ normal _ ,” Yona said. “He’s different. They think he’s weird.”

“Gems can shapeshift,” Cam cut in. “I don’t think it’s weird.”

The conversation paused for a second. Yona looked up from her book.

“Oh,” she said. “I’m-- you’re not  _ not _ normal, though.”

“Can  _ you _ shapeshift?” Otto asked.

“I don’t know?” Cam said. “I’ve never tried, and I haven’t trained--”

“My dad can,” Nora cut in. “So you probably can.”

Cam shrugged. “I don’t know how to.”

“Just try! It might come naturally!” Otto said. “Oo, do a snake!”

Cam adjusted her backpack, clutching the straps a bit harder. “Alright. Okay.”

She shut her eyes. She wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do, she just thought about shapeshifting, and snakes, and--

She heard a hiss from right behind her ear.

She opened her eyes to see the other three staring at her, wide-eyed.

“ _ Woah, _ ” Otto said, barely above a whisper. “ _ Snake hair. _ ”

Cam tried looking towards where the hiss had come from, just barely able to make out something moving.

She reached up to try to touch it, only to feel small, but sharp fangs sink into her finger.

“Ow!” She stuck her finger in her mouth. (She might not have healing spit, but something about it made it hurt less.) “Can I get rid of it now?” she asked the others. 

“Aw, man, but it’s so  _ cool… _ ”

“You probably should,” Yona said.    
  
“Yeah, it bit you,” Nora agreed. 

The three of them turned to Otto. 

“Fine, fine, you should,” he said. “Even if it is super cool.”

Cam shut her eyes again, trying the same process as before, but reversed. She thought about shapeshifting the snake in her hair away.

“Um, Cam?” Nora said.

“I’m  _ focusing _ .” 

“Cam, there’s a second one,” Yona said.

Cam opened her eyes again, her hand shooting up to her hand, and--

“ _ Ow! _ ” Two sets of fangs sank into her hand. She pulled it away, shaking it. “Why did I think that would work better the second time!”

“Maybe we should go talk to my dad?” Nora suggested.

“No, no, I got it.” She shut her eyes once more.

“It’s--”

“There’s two more,” Yona said. “You really should go see Mr. Universe.”

“He told us we could call him Steven,” Otto said.

“Does that really matter right now?”

“Fine, fine, I’ll go see him,” Cam said. “I shouldn’t’ve tried this in the first place.”

The flow of students towards the exit had slowed while they were talking, and now there were only a few kids left.

“Crap, I’m gonna miss the bus,” Yona said. She grabbed onto Otto’s arm. “You’re gonna too. Let’s go.”

“Bye! Good luck!” Otto said, waving as Yona began to pull him towards the exit.

Nora pulled off her beanie, reaching over and pulling it over Cam’s head. “Just-- to hide it. We should probably call your mom.”

\---

There were no other kids in the office, so they didn’t have to wait to ask to use the phone.

“No, Mama, I’m-- everything’s fine, okay?”

“Yes, I’m sure Steven’s gonna be okay driving me home, he always is.”

“Don’t worry, I’m okay!”

“I’ll see you later, yeah.  _ Te quiero _ . Bye.”

She sighed as she stepped out of the office. 

“She says it’s okay. We’re good.”

“Then let’s go.”

As they stepped out of the school, Cam felt something moving against her ear.

“Um, Nora?”

“Yeah?”

“How long of a walk is it?”

“Two blocks? It isn’t that bad.”

“Okay,” Cam said. “Okay. Because, uh-- it’s getting worse, I think?”

“Then we should probably hurry,” Nora said, picking up her pace a little.

They didn’t talk for a few seconds, as Cam picked up her pace to match.

“...I’ll race you?”

Nora glanced over, smiling. “I’ll win.”

“No you won’t!”

“Yes, I will!” She took a short breath, before saying as fast as she could, “3-2-1-GO!”

  
She started running before Cam could register it.

“Hey! No fair!”

Cam started to run after her, not noticing as the beanie began to slip off. After a few seconds of running, it fell off of her head entirely.

She tried to stop, only succeeding in tripping over her own feet and nearly falling straight onto her face, managing to put her hands beneath her before she could, but feeling the rough pavement scrape her palms.

“Cam!” Nora called from up ahead. “Are you okay?”

Tears pricked at the corners of Cam’s eyes from the sting of the fresh, dirty cuts on her palms, but she nodded, giving a shout of “Yeah!” Her eyes darted around to find the beanie, seeing it sitting a bit into the road. She stood, checking both ways before stepping off of the sidewalk, crouching down to grab the beanie and returning to the sidewalk as soon as it was in her hands.

She went to put it back on, but just as she was about to pull it over her hair, she felt a tug, pulling her head backwards. She stumbled a bit, managing to stay standing. 

Nora was in front of her now, concern clear on her face. 

  
“You were right,” she said. “It’s getting worse.” 

She took the beanie from Cam’s hands, trying to put it over her hair. Sounds of hissing overlapped, and then Nora was pulling her hand away with a yelp of pain, still holding the beanie. Cam could see the clear bite on her hand, but watched as it healed within seconds. 

As soon as it was healed, Nora looked back up. “Come on.”

She grabbed Cam’s arm, pulling her down the sidewalk. She held her beanie in her free hand. The tugging she had felt a moment ago returned, but with Nora pulling her forward, she couldn’t fall backwards. 

A few minutes of Nora pulling forward and the snakes Cam had accidentally shapeshifted her hair into tugging back later, they were walking up the pathway through the large front garden Steven had started before Nora was born.

The tugging from the snakes had stopped, and Nora let go of Cam’s arm as she tried opening the door. She huffed a little, finding it locked, and knocked.

Steven opened the door, looking almost exactly the same as he had when Cam had first met him. “Hey, sorry, I didn’t realize I’d locked the…”

He finally looked down, noticing Cam’s hair.

“...door.” 

“Hi, Steven,” Cam said awkwardly. “Um. I don’t know how to fix this.” She gestured to the snakes.

Steven was silent, staring at the snakes coming out of Cam’s head.

“...Dad?” Nora said.

Steven shook his head, his eyes finally looking away. “Sorry, yeah, just… hold on. Stay here.”

The door shut as Steven headed inside.

A rustling in one of the nearby bushes, a few feet off the path, caught Cam’s attention. A small rabbit was sniffing around right at the edge of the bush’s cover. 

Before she could really register what was happening, she was being tugged by the snakes towards the rabbit.

She tried to plant her feet, dragging them a little before realizing that it was either run to move with the tugging or fall face-first and be dragged anyways.

The rabbit’s head turned towards her, and it bolted. The snakes kept pulling.

“Cam!” Nora called. Cam could hear her footsteps running after her.

But she couldn’t get rid of the snakes, so she couldn’t stop.

\---

Steven quickly typed out “what makes snakes go away” in the Boogle search bar.

A scroll through the results, and he found that there were no real repellents, but one site did suggest using a garden hose. That would have to work.

He headed back over to the door, opening it to find both Cam and Nora gone.

He stepped out of the house, quickly glancing around-- he couldn’t see them, but he found trampled flowers to the right of the door, towards his hydrangea bush. It didn’t matter. He could heal them once he found Cam.

With some sense of where to look, he jumped, looking down as he began floating to see if he could see her and Nora anywhere. 

He spotted them after a few seconds, seeing them not far down the street, Nora chasing after Cam. He took a breath before he closed his eyes.

He didn’t go pink as much anymore, but when he did, it was almost always intentional. It didn’t come at any stressful situation. He’d learned to control it over the years, so when he thought it would be useful, he used it. 

So in that moment, he let the power run through his body, spreading from his cheeks outwards in a matter of seconds. 

Floating was useful, but it didn’t give the amount of control in direction that flying did, and flying meant going pink.

He reopened his eyes and found Cam and Nora again, not far from where they’d been before he’d closed them. 

Before they could get much further, he flew down as fast as he could, grabbing Cam by the shoulders. As soon as his feet were on the ground, he let the pink fade.

A few of the snakes bit into his hand, and he pulled it away, shaking it off despite the wounds already being healed. He shifted his other hand to hold Cam’s to make sure she couldn’t be pulled away again.

Cam wouldn’t look up at him, but he gave a small smile to let her know it was alright anyways.

“Come on. We have to go back to my house.”

\---

The look on Steven’s face as they headed back to his house wasn’t anger, or disappointment-- it was just concern.

The snakes had stopped tugging, finally. She knew they’d bitten him, but he hadn’t reacted other than pulling his hand away.

The pink wasn’t exactly new to her. She didn’t see it often, but she had seen it-- once, when she and Nora were younger, they were riding their bikes and hadn’t noticed a car coming. Steven had rushed over faster than humanly possible, bright pink like he was today. The only jarring part about Steven going pink was the fact that the diamond pupils that normally blended into his near-black eyes were white, standing out against the bright pink of his irises.

Steven didn’t bring them into the house once they got there. Instead, he led them around the house to the garden hose in the back.

He grabbed the end, turning on the water.    
  
“This is probably gonna be cold,” he said, “but it should get them to go away.” 

He held the hose over her head.

It was, in fact, cold. 

She yelped a little, but after a few seconds, the hose was pulled away. Instead of the slight tugging Cam had been feeling the entire time the snakes had been there, now, all she felt was wet hair. Raising her hand to her head confirmed it-- they were gone.

“Thank you,” she said, simply.

Steven was turning the hose off when he turned back to her with a smile. “Of course.” His eyes went to the hand she had against her head, the one that the snakes had bitten not long ago. “Here, let me fix that.”

He stepped back over to her, leaning down, taking her hand in his, and kissing it better. (An idiom Cam, even as a kid, had never expected to see someone actually, truly fulfill.) He let go of it once the sparkles of his healing power faded, and stood back up.

“Does your mom know you’re here?”

She nodded. 

  
“She called her before we left school,” Nora added.

“Okay. Does she know  _ why _ ?”

Both Nora and Cam went silent.

Steven sighed. Not angry, not really disappointed, more the kind of sigh a parent gives when their kid does something that’ll take a while to clean up later. He let his smile return anyways. “I’m going to call her and let her know, okay? And if she’s available to come over, I’m going to talk to her. Cam, is this the first power you’ve gotten?”

Cam nodded. “Yeah.”

“Okay, well-- that’s a big thing, but you need to be safer. You need to learn more about them.”

It finally clicked in her head what he meant when he said he was going to talk to her mom.

“You mean-- are we gonna start training?”

Steven nodded. “If Lea’s ready, yeah. It’d be best to start now since your powers are starting to show up now.”

Cam looked over at Nora, who met her eyes with a small, awed smile. 

“You’re welcome to stay for the afternoon as long as it’s okay with Lea. Go dry off, and I’ll call her.”

Cam shot inside, Nora following close behind. She headed straight to the downstairs bathroom, grabbing a towel from the closet and using it to dry her hair as Nora reached the doorway.

“You’re gonna get to  _ train _ !” she said. “You’re gonna get to use your powers!”

Cam nodded, beaming. 

Something was starting, and she was at the center of it all. 

She was going to be training. 

  
She couldn’t  _ wait. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK SO  
> just to explain some stuff that might not be clear unless ur my beta reader whos dealt w me infodumping the entire story and all of the details in it since i came up w the concept:  
> \- cam and steven are both most comfortable in a singular outfit most of the time, inspired by form clothing which i Think is from for a diamond is a marveled thing (which is an amazing series go read it)  
> \- nora and cam have been friends since kindergarten so even without training steven is still a Huge presence in cams life  
> \- nora cant heal others, but is a VERY fast healer bc she's technically 1/4 pink diamond even if she doesnt have a gem  
> let me know if anything else is unclear or confusing in the comments?? thank you for reading, and another shoutout to my beta reader trillwavesdrip on tumblr!


	4. a call and a conversation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “That’s her first real power.” It was pointing out the obvious, but Steven was sure Lea knew that. “And… I’m guessing she can’t really control it.”
> 
> Steven nodded. “I called you because I was planning on asking if you were available to come over tonight to talk about Cam starting training."
> 
> \---
> 
> Lea comes over, and she and Steven have a talk about Cam's training.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i am SO SORRY that this took so long. i hit writers block like, a page and a half in and couldn't get past it.   
> side note, as much as i hate comic sans it DID save my life for some reason.  
> words: 1395, pages: 5  
> (this chapter is not betaread, so if the quality is different that's why)

Steven watched Cam and Nora head inside with a small smile, waiting until the door shut behind them before pulling out his phone. A quick scroll through his contacts to the “M” section got him to Lea’s contact. 

He brought the phone to his ear as it rang, walking around to the front of the house just to have something to do.

After a few moments passed, the ringing stopped.

“ _ Hello? _ ” Lea greeted. 

“Hey, it’s Steven,” he said.

“ _ Steven! Cam said she was going over with Nora, did something happen? Is everything alright? _ ”

“Yeah, uh--” he paused, thinking about how he’s going to explain it-- “everything’s alright  _ now. _ But--”

“ _ What do you mean  _ now _? _ ” Her words were frantic, laced with concern. “ _ Did something happen? Is Cam alright?! _ ”

“She’s fine, she just--”

“ _ I’ll be there in a few minutes! _ ”

And with that, the call ended.

Steven took a deep breath in, pulling his phone away from his ear, staring at the screen for a few seconds before putting it back in his pocket.

He could explain everything when Lea got there. It would be alright. At least he knew she’d have time to talk about training. 

He finished walking around the house to the front door, stopping on the way to lick his finger and heal the flowers that had been trampled by Cam and Nora earlier. 

He’d barely stepped inside before Cam was in the hallway outside of the bathroom, a towel still on her head.

“Did you talk to my mom?” she asked, immediately adding on, “What’d she say?!”

“She said she’d be here in a few minutes,” Steven answered with a small sigh. “We’ll talk to her when she gets here, alright?”

Cam nodded, smiling wide. 

“So what’s training gonna be like? Am I gonna get a shield like you? Oh! What about fusion?”

“Maybe we should wait until your mom gets here before we talk about--”

“I wanna learn a bunch of cool fighting tricks!”

\---

Steven could’ve sworn half an hour passed in the five minutes it took Lea to get there. Every time he thought Cam had run out of ideas she wanted to learn or made-up moves to demonstrate, she’d come up with ten more.

Finally, there was a knock on the door. Before Steven could even call for her to come in from where he’d settled in the dining room, the door was opening and Lea was rushing in.

“Mama!” Cam said.

“Camellia- oh, thank  _ god _ ,” Lea responded, dropping to her knees and pulling Cam into a hug as soon as she was close enough to. “What happened?”

“I got my powers!”

It fell silent for a second, Cam smiling wide at her mother, who slowly turned to look at Steven.

He rubbed at the back of his neck, shifting his eyes to Cam and Nora. 

“Why don’t you two go play upstairs so I can talk to Lea?”

While Nora nodded, moving to head upstairs, and Lea stood, Cam pouted, a youth to her expression that Steven knows he had when his training was first truly discussed. One he wanted to protect through the powers Cam was going to grow into.

“Why?” Cam whined. “It’s about  _ my _ training!”

“I know,” Steven said, gently. “But Lea and I need to talk about it alone, alright? An adult talk.”

Cam huffed a little, crossing her arms. “Fine.”

She turned, her steps heavy as she headed upstairs towards Nora’s room, Nora following behind her. 

Lea watched them go before turning back to Steven, her lips pressed into a line.

“So, what exactly happened?” Concern laced her voice. “Because you said everything was fine  _ now _ .”

Yeah, Lea had been attentive to the little things since before Steven and Connie had met her. Of course she’d noticed that.

“Well, uh,” Steven started, “you know that story I told once? About the, uh. The cat fingers incident?”

He’d told Lea the story once, when Greg was visiting and offered to watch Nora for the night so Steven and Connie could go out. Conveniently, Lea’s parents were visiting at the same time. 

With Cam and Nora both being watched, the parents took the chance to meet at the bar, and, sure, maybe Steven had a little too much to drink, but he wasn’t the designated driver anyways. The worst that happened was that he told a story he’d already worked through years ago in therapy, and now forgot was somewhat horrifying.

At least it could be used as a point of reference now.

_ Maybe not the best one, though, _ Steven thought, as horror made its way onto Lea’s face, and he quickly added, “No, no, it wasn’t as bad!”

Relief immediately replaced the horror on Lea’s face.

“It was just her hair,” Steven told her. “I don’t know the full story, but she showed up with snakes in her hair, so-”

“Snakes in her  _ hair? _ She turned her hair into  _ snakes? _ ” 

An awkward laugh slipped out before Steven could stop it. “Yeah, but I got them to go away before it got bad. She had a few bites on her hands, but none of them were venomous, and I healed them.”

Lea took a second to process, slowly nodding as she did. 

“That’s her first real power.” It was pointing out the obvious, but Steven was sure Lea knew that. “And… I’m guessing she can’t really control it.”

Steven nodded. “I called you because I was planning on asking if you were available to come over tonight to talk about Cam starting training,” he told her, “but, uh. I wasn’t able to get to that.”

Lea was silent for a moment, before quietly laughing. “I was expecting to have at least a few months before this conversation,” she said. “She still seems so  _ human. _ ”

“She is human. But she’s a Gem, too. And she has Gem powers.”

Lea nodded. “I know. She should be able to learn to control them. I think it’s time.”   
  
Steven nodded with a small smile.

(Unbeknownst to Steven and Lea, Cam and Nora were listening in, hiding in the office at the top of the stairs with the door left open. 

Cam heard Lea’s words, heard her say it was time, and immediately met Nora’s eyes, giving a near-silent cheer as she shoved her fist in the air. 

Nora smiled for her, happy for her friend, but she couldn’t help but feel left out.

Before they heard anything else, they quietly stepped out of the office, unnoticed by Steven and Lea, and headed to Nora’s room for real this time.)

Steven stayed silent for a second, his smile dropping as he figured out his next words. 

“It isn’t going to be the same as my training,” he started. Lea looked up at him. “You know about the whole liberating the galaxy thing, but. I never mentioned, I was  _ fourteen _ when I did that.” 

Lea didn’t say anything, but she didn’t need to. It was obvious that she was horrified-- she couldn’t imagine Cam being put under that kind of pressure only three years older than she was now. 

“Don’t get me wrong,” Steven continued, “I don’t regret it-- I’ve worked through everything already, but I was young. I was too young.

“My training was  _ really _ hands-on. Monsters, trying and failing to rescue ancient Gem structures, fighting an intergalactic empire-- it wasn’t good for me. Not as young as I was. 

“I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure it isn’t like that for Cam. I promise you. I just want you to know so you can make sure I don’t break that promise.” 

There was a moment of silence, neither of them breathing, neither of them even moving. Just two parents, a hybrid and the mother of a hybrid, meeting each other’s eyes. 

Finally, Lea nodded. “I trust you, Steven. You’re the reason Topaz and I were able to meet-- the reason Cam  _ exists. _ I can’t imagine you making that much difference when you were so young. And I can’t imagine that you’d let Cam feel anything close to what it must’ve felt like.” 

She stepped towards him, wrapping her arms around him.

“I trust you, Steven Universe.”

Steven takes a deep breath, wipes a few tears from his face, and wraps his arms around Lea in return. 

“I’ll make sure you won’t regret it,” he says.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i rlly hope you enjoyed!! pls kudos/bookmark/share/comment, whatever u wanna do we vibe  
> and i swear next chapter wont take as long. i have the next chapter started, and i have. up to chapter 19 at least roughly plotted with multiple of em having titles and a few scenes already being written or roughly summarized.   
> my su tumblr is @gemi-fool, my writing blog is @connauthor, and my main is @demi-fool!


	5. training

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cam’s not sure what she was expecting her training to be like.
> 
> But she’s pretty sure she wasn’t expecting to be sat down in Steven’s backyard, upbeat instrumental music quietly playing in the background, and told to try meditating.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i wrote this chapter like, the day i published ch4 and saved it to post this week so i could know what it feels like to have a regular update schedule lmao  
> the next chapter is not written yet so if it takes longer im sorry
> 
> 1.2k words, 4 pages total!

Cam’s not sure what she was expecting her training to be like.

But she’s pretty sure she wasn’t expecting to be sat down in Steven’s backyard, upbeat instrumental music quietly playing in the background, and told to try meditating.

“My powers have a lot to do with my emotions,” Steven had said. “It might not be the same for you, but you should still work on being more in-tune with your emotions. It can’t hurt.”

Well, if Steven thought it wouldn’t hurt, he was wrong. They’d only been sitting there for a few minutes, and Cam already felt like she was about to die of boredom. 

She opened her right eye, looking at Steven sitting directly across from her. He was sitting cross-legged with his hands folded in his lap, the same as her. The only main difference was the relaxed look on his face, his eyes gently closed, his breathing slowed. 

  
Cam had no idea how he did it.

Still, she tried again. She closed her eyes again, took a deep breath into her chest, and then let it out.

_ Deep breaths, _ Steven’s voice told her.  _ Focus on your emotions. _

Yeah. No. This wasn’t working.

Steven must’ve known, somehow, because the next time she opened her eye to peek, he was looking back at her, a soft smile on his face.

“It’s not working, huh?”

She looked down at the ground in front of her legs. Something about his expression was making her feel uncomfortable, like she’d disappointed him. But she still nodded.

“Well,” Steven said, “if it’s not emotion, there has to be something that works for you. How did you shapeshift?”

Cam looks back up. It was such a straight-forward question, something simple. She could answer that.

“I just… thought about it?” she answered. “Otto told me to try a snake, so I just… closed my eyes and thought about shapeshifting into a snake. And the hair happened.”

Steven nodded. “Alright, so not emotion. More… imagining? Simplified?” He was more mumbling to himself than anything. “It sounds a lot like Amethyst’s method, maybe I should call her…”

He looked back up to Cam. “Well… one of the first things I worked at was summoning my weapon,” he said. “Do you want to try that?”

Cam was immediately to her feet, nodding repeatedly, a huge smile back on her face.

Steven smiled at her, standing up as well.

“This one is probably going to be more complicated,” Steven said. “Your powers sound like they’re based in visualization? And since we don’t know what your weapon is, you can’t really visualize it.”

“I bet it’s something super cool!” Cam said, flapping her hands a little. “Like a big sword!”

Steven chuckled a little. “Well, you’re welcome to visualize a big sword, if you think that’s what it is. But before you try, let me demonstrate, alright?”

Steven adjusted his stance, getting himself into a more stable position, and held up his arm. Cam watched, eyes wide, as his Gem glowed and a thorn-patterned shield shimmered into existence on his arm.

The demonstration only made Cam more excited to try for herself. Before Steven could even say anything, she was sloppily imitating his stance, holding out her hand, imagining a sword, and…

Nothing. Not even a glow from her Gem.

She stared at her hand, sticking her tongue out as she pulled her hand back and shoved it back in the air.

Still nothing.

But that didn’t mean she was going to stop trying.

\---

Nora watched the display in the backyard through one of the windows. She found her hand resting against her stomach, where Steven’s Gem was-- where her Gem would likely be, if she’d gotten one. 

But she hadn’t, and she understood why (she knew enough about her grandmother and her death to understand now). 

That didn’t stop her from wishing she did. Cam had been excited to start training since she learned it would happen one day. Nora was happy for Cam, don’t get her wrong, but she couldn’t help but feel left out. She wanted to be out there beside Cam, doing… whatever it was she was doing. Trying to summon her weapon, probably. 

Nora wished she was part of it.

“Hey,” a voice said behind Nora, and she jumped a little before realizing it was just her mom. “Everything alright, PB?”

A nickname based on Connie and Steven’s nicknames for each other-- they were Strawberry and Biscuit, so Nora had ended up as PB. It wasn’t used as often anymore as Nora grew up, but it was still welcome.

“Yeah, everything’s fine,” Nora lied. 

Connie squinted at her. “Are you sure?” She slid a large bag off her shoulder. “That’d really be a shame, I had brought something in case you were feeling left out…”

Nora hesitated for a moment before quietly asking, “What kind of thing?”

Connie smiled, unzipping the bag.

Nora looked inside to find two wooden swords, one much smaller than the other.

Oh.  _ Oh. _

Nora had been told stories of Connie’s history as a swordfighter. She’d begun training while Steven was training, and she still practiced semi-regularly to keep the skills fresh.

Nora looked up at her, eyes wide and mouth slightly open. “I get to train too?”

Connie laughed, quietly. “If you want to. I thought you might enjoy it, you always liked the stories.”

Nora’s hands reached towards the bag, and, on Connie’s nod, she pulled out the smaller wooden sword. She adjusted how she was holding it, Connie setting the bag down to adjust her grip a little more.

“How does it feel?” Connie asked.

Nora didn’t really have the words to describe how  _ right _ it felt in her grip, the rubber hilt of the sword against her hands. Wooden and fake or not, it felt  _ right _ , to be standing here holding a sword, her mother’s hands gently adjusting her grip.

“It feels good,” she said.

\---

Steven smiled at Nora and Connie as they walked outside, Nora swinging her wooden sword around as Connie carried hers in the bag.

It wasn’t like this was out of the blue-- he’d talked to Connie about it when he confirmed that Cam would be starting her training soon. Neither of them wanted Nora feeling left out, so they decided that while Steven trained Cam in her Gem powers, Connie would train Nora in the closest thing she did best: swordfighting.

With that decided and it agreed upon that it wouldn’t be nearly the same as Connie’s training with Pearl, they’d contacted Bismuth about having the swords made, and, once the idea of wooden swords was explained to her, she happily agreed to make them. (She also offered to make Nora a true sword one day, but neither of them were too keen on the idea of Nora having a real weapon before she was an adult.)

While Steven continued to try to help Cam figure out her weapon, Nora and Connie set up on the other side of the backyard, Connie pulling her own wooden sword out of the bag and placing the bag to the side. 

They would make sure Nora never felt left out. What better way to do that than train them both in the same backyard?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i rlly hope you enjoyed!! please kudos/comment/bookmark/subscribe/whatever floats ur boat if u did!! thank u sm for reading!!  
> if anyones curious and wants to know for reference, i have this entire fic plotted out, with specified plotting for the first 19 chapters. no i dont know why it's that long already it's just how it b.


	6. his hometown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cam fidgeted, rocking back and forth as much as the seatbelt would allow, while her mother drove down Nora’s street.
> 
> She had been a little disappointed when Steven had said he was canceling training for a week, but that disappointment had quickly turned to excitement when she learned it was because he had convinced her mom to go to Beach City for a vacation with them.  
> \---  
> or: The Martinez family tags along on the Maheswaran-Universe family vacation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so!! this chapter was originally going to include smth else, but ive decided to move that to the next chapter- so if the next chapter's short it's bc it was meant to be in this one but the transition between scenes felt awkward!  
> but! damn two regular updates in a row?? im on a ROLL  
> if i can keep this up a bit longer i might be able to officially say that ttycl is gonna be updating every friday!  
> anyways, enjoy the chapter!!   
> (1408 words, 5 pages)

Cam couldn’t sit still.

She fidgeted, rocking back and forth as much as the seatbelt would allow, while her mother drove down Nora’s street.

They were almost there!

Cam had been a little disappointed when Steven had said he was cancelling training for a week, but that disappointment had quickly turned to excitement when she learned it was because he had convinced her mom to go to Beach City for a vacation with them.

School had gotten out two weeks ago now, and Cam had found out about the trip a week ago. 

This was her first time going to Beach City, but she’d heard stories about it for years. Steven promised he’d get Peewee to give him some fry bits to share with her, and Lea had promised to give her money for Funland Arcade.

But she was most excited to meet the Crystal Gems. 

Sure, she’d known Steven for years, but she still hadn’t really met any Gems. Steven was like her, and she wasn’t human  _ or _ a Gem, so neither was he.

Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl would be the first people she’d ever meet from Topaz’s side of her heritage. 

The car stopped in Steven’s driveway, and she was immediately out of the car, greeted by Connie and Nora in the front lawn with a lion.

Not just any lion, either-- she knew this one from Steven’s stories. The pink fur gave it away.

“Lion!” she shouted, running over and planting her face in his mane. He didn’t seem to mind.

Connie laughed. “Yep, this is him.”

“Where are we putting our luggage?” Lea called from the car, pulling out the suitcases.

“Steven’s grabbing ours, then he’ll put it in Lion’s mane!” Connie called back.

On cue, Steven pushed open the front door, suitcases in his arms as he stepped outside. It looked almost effortless. 

He noticed Cam and Lea immediately, smiling at Cam before turning in Lea’s direction and greeting, “Hey!”

“Hi, Steven!” Lea called back, setting Cam’s suitcase on the ground. Lea let go of Lion and rushed over to help with it.

“Bring your suitcases over here, I’ll put them away for you,” Steven said, walking towards Lion.

Cam started carrying her suitcase over, watching as Steven took the first of his, Connie’s, and Nora’s and put it into Lion’s mane, a white glow covering the edges until it was all the way into his mane. 

“Woah,” Cam said, quietly. She started walking faster, suitcase still in her hands. She reached them as Steven was finishing putting the second suitcase of his into Lion’s mane, and set down her own before stepping back to watch.

She wasn’t sure how it worked. All she knew was that Lion’s mane was some kind of portal to a different place where Steven could store items, and that Lion could also make portals. And that he liked Lion Lickers, which Steven had told her with disgust, and that he spent a lot of time napping.

In her mind, Lion was the coolest not-quite-pet ever.

Once the glow from the final suitcase stopped, and Steven pulled his hands out of Lion’s mane for the final time, he looked down at Cam and smiled.

  
“You ready to try riding Lion for the first time?”

Cam smiled wide, nodding frantically. 

He chuckled, grabbing her and lifting her onto Lion’s back. 

“Lea, you can go on his back too, and Connie’ll sit in front. Nora and I’ll be fine in his mane.”

Lea looked a little hesitant, but nodded anyways, managing to climb onto Lion’s back after a few tries. Once she was on, Connie hopped on in front. Steven then put Nora into his mane, her body far enough out that she could hold on with her arms, and dove in himself, before popping his head and arms back out. 

“Hold on,” Connie told Cam and Lea, looking back at them with a smile. Cam nodded, wrapping her arms around Connie. Lea did the same, holding on to Connie and making sure Cam couldn’t fall off at the same time.

“Alright, Lion!” Steven said. “To Beach City we go!”

The excitement in his voice was nearly contagious, and Cam felt herself smiling even wider as she felt Lion adjust his stance underneath her, before roaring a portal into existence and jumping in.

Lea’s screams of fear were drowned out by the cheering from Cam and Nora.

Just when Cam was about to run out of breath and have to pause her cheering to inhale, the light of the portal was gone. Lea’s screaming stopped, replaced by the sound of waves hitting the shore.

Cam was slipping out from under Lea’s arms and landing on the sand before Lea could stop her. Mouth hanging open, she took a few steps, turning as she did to take in the full scenery of the section of beach they had landed on.

There was a beach house built on top of a carving of a giant woman, with multiple arms and what seemed to be two faces layered on top of each other. 

The Temple. 

There was a small town, with a boardwalk and an amusement park. 

Beach City and Funland.

Then, in the distance, there was a building, with something spinning on top of it. 

Little Homeworld.

This was where Steven grew up.

That thought was only confirmed when the door to the beach house opened, and out came a short purple Gem, followed by two taller Gems.

“Yo, Ste-man!” she shouted, barely giving Steven time to fully get out of Lion’s mane before tackling him to the ground in a hug.

Cam could hear Steven laughing as the other two Gems reached his side, kneeling down next to him and the purple Gem.

Lea stepped next to Cam, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. 

After a minute, one of the taller Gems looked over at them. “I thought Steven would be bringing guests,” she said with a smile.

Steven shot up into a sitting position at that. “Oh! Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, this is Lea and her daughter Cam,” he said. “Lea and Cam, this is Garnet-” he gestured to the tallest of the three gems- “Amethyst-” he gestured to the short purple one that had tackled him- “and Pearl!” he gestured to the one in the teal jacket. 

Cam quickly noticed Pearl’s Gem is in the same place as hers.

“Pearl!” she said. As soon as the Gem looked at her, she pushed up her bangs, pointing at her Gem with a wide smile.

She didn’t catch the momentary shock that crossed the Crystal Gems’ faces as they fully registered  _ why  _ Steven brought Cam with him. Steven had told them about her, but this was the first they’d truly seen it, had her existence confirmed by their own eyes.

It was only there for a split second, before Pearl smiled at her. “We have the same Gem placement,” she said, and Cam nods. “Your Gem is a Topaz, right?”

Cam nodded. “I’m Camellia Topaz Martinez! I go by Cam!”

Pearl chuckled lightly, squatting down to Cam’s height. “Well, it’s nice to meet you, Cam. I’m Pearl.”

Cam grinned.

“Cam! Come grab your suitcase!”   
  
Pearl moved out of the way as Cam got up and rushed over to grab her suitcase from Steven’s hands.

\---

When Steven had first discussed where he’d stay if he and Connie were to visit for more than a day, Bismuth had immediately started to make blueprints for an extension to the beach house, adding two guest rooms. One for Steven and Connie, and another for any children they might have that would want their own room.

Luckily, Nora was alright with sleeping on an air mattress, so the two guest bedrooms gave enough room for the Maheswaran-Universe family to take one room, and the Martinez family to take the other. 

While Steven had gotten caught up talking to Greg, Connie and Nora had brought their suitcases into their room to put away, with Lea and Cam doing the same. 

Both rooms had a window facing the beach, so while Lea began putting her clothes away, Cam got distracted by the view.

It was still mid-afternoon, and so the water was still bright teal against the pale yellow of the sand. The water seemingly went on forever, until it met the light blue of the sky.

She could tell she was going to like spending time here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope u enjoyed!! pls bookmark/kudos/comment/share if u did, esp comments, comments mean the absolute world to me  
> as a disclaimer, if updates ever slow, i'm currently hyperfixated on bnha so it sometimes takes me a bit to get into TTYCL Mode. but!! i've been doing alright with it!!  
> thanks for reading!! again, hope u enjoyed!!  
> u can follow me on tumblr @demi-fool, or @gemi-fool for only su content!  
> (also i dont have a lot of practice writing the crystal gems and i dont have a beta reader to give me opinions on how i write them so im so sorry if they seem kind of ooc)


	7. a diamond's blood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Are you gonna go up to the hand?” Nora asked, her eyes lit up. “Can I come this time?”
> 
> She’d only been up on the hand that held the washer and dryer, alongside a clothing line, once, and even then she’d been little at the time and hadn’t been allowed out of Steven’s arms. She was sure she was old enough now.
> 
> Steven shrugged. “I don’t see why not,” he said. “You have to be careful, though, alright?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the late update hfdjk i forgot what day it was  
> shorter chapter today, 1k words / 4 pages  
> but it's nora focused, babey!  
> enjoy!!

Nora liked Grandpa Universe.

He always found a way to tell stories on guitar, and gave good advice, and had good jokes. Even if the jokes were really cheesy. 

So once she had finished putting her clothes away, she had headed back downstairs to Grandpa Universe’s room, where he and her dad had been talking.

When she reached the doorway, Grandpa Universe had looked over at her and smiled. That smile quickly fell as she ran towards him.

“Wait, Nora, wait- _agh-!_ ”

He managed to catch her when she jumped into his arms, but he was clearly struggling. She was set back down almost immediately.

“You’ve gotten big, huh, Nora?” he asked with a light chuckle, wincing a little with a hand on his back. “I don’t think I’m going to be able to pick you up at all soon.”

She smiled, nodding. She didn’t grow the same way Cam did, which she’d been told was the way Steven had grown, too. Cam stayed the same for years before she’d have a giant growth spurt. Nora’s growth was a lot more consistent than that. She was expecting to hit another growth spurt soon.

“Well, at least give him a warning next time, alright, Nora?” Steven said. Nora nodded again.

Then, Nora noticed the full laundry basket sitting on the end of Greg’s bed.

“Are you gonna go up to the hand?” she asked, her eyes lit up. “Can I come this time?”

She’d only been up on the hand that held the washer and dryer, alongside a clothing line, once, and even then she’d been little at the time and hadn’t been allowed out of Steven’s arms. She was sure she was old enough now.

Greg and Steven met eyes, Greg looking hesitant. Steven shrugged.

“I don’t see why not,” he said. “You have to be careful, though, alright?”

Nora nodded. “Okay!”

Steven grabbed the laundry basket, despite Greg saying that he could carry it. Nora was the first down the stairs, rushing over to the warp pad.

As soon as Steven and Greg caught up and were both on the warp, the living room was covered by a pale blue.    
  
Nora stared in silent awe, her mouth agape. Her hand reached out, but before she could touch the blue surrounding them, Steven gently stopped her.

“You have to stay inside the warp stream, alright?” He paused for a second, before chuckling lightly. He mumbled, mostly to himself, “I sound like Garnet.”

Then the blue faded away, and Nora was left with a view of the beach through four stone fingers.

With starry eyes, she stepped off of the warp, walking forward. She wrapped her hands around the ring finger of the hand as best as she could, leaning forward slightly as she looked over the view.

She’d seen the ocean that gave Beach City its name millions of times, but this view was something entirely different to what she was used to.

“Careful, Nora,” Steven reminded her as he began hanging clothes on the line. Nora hummed a simple “mhm” in response.

She looked to the right. She could almost see Beach City. Emphasis on  _ almost _ .

She stepped over towards where Steven was hanging clothes on the line, switching her hands from the ring finger, to the middle, to the pointer. Slipping under his arm, she could see the very edge of the town.

Maybe if she just…?

She wrapped her arms around the pointer finger of the hand as best as she could, before hoisting her feet up and trying to push herself up. Her sneakers slipped a few times, but she managed to get a grip. Gently, she adjusted her arms, shifting them upward a few inches at a time, before repeating the first step with her feet.

She managed to get part of the way up the finger before she was turned around while shifting her arms up again, holding on to the finger from the outside of the hand.

Steven looked over, worry immediately finding its way onto his face. “Nora, I don’t think that’s safe.”

“I’m okay!” she reassured him. “See, I’m holding on.” She removed one arm, moving to gesture to her other arm and legs wrapped part of the way around the finger, before realizing her mistake.

She watched Steven move to catch her, neon pink flashing across his features, as her grip slipped.

His hand didn’t reach.

She could feel the wind whipping by, her previously neat ponytail getting in her face as she flailed in the air. She could see Steven, now fully pink, jumping off the side of the hand towards her.

She couldn’t maneuver her body enough to see how far from the ground she was.

Pressing her eyes shut, she kept flailing, flapping her arms and kicking her legs. The panic was too intense for her to notice when the wind stopped.

  
Well, not  _ stopped. _ Slowed.

By a lot.

But there weren’t any arms, buzzing with hard light coursing through human veins, around her. No, the person that would’ve caught her was in front of her, not that she knew with her eyes closed.

“Nora?”   
  


She opened them. 

Her father was in front of her, hands obviously stopped mid-catch, still glowing bright pink. 

But he hadn’t caught her, and the moving cliffside behind him told her that she was still falling.

But slower. She wasn’t really falling anymore.

They were  _ floating. _

Her mouth slowly formed into a wide smile as she flapped her arms at her side. The fear and confusion on Steven’s face didn’t fade.

“Dad! Dad, I’m  _ floating _ !”

“Yeah- yeah, I know!” A nervous smile made its way onto his face. “That’s- this is great, PB.

For years, Steven and Connie had thought that the only power Nora would ever get from her father was her incredibly accelerated healing. She didn’t have a Gem, it wouldn’t make sense for her to have anything else. Even the healing was unexpected.

But she was  _ floating. _ An undeniable Gem power. An undeniable effect of her father’s genetics.

Her feet landed on the ground, one after the other, toe to heel. Steven landed right before her.

Once she was on the ground, Steven kneeled in front of her, took her hands, met her eyes, and told her--

  
“ _ Please _ never do that again.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the girls got POWERS we love that for her  
> thank u for reading! please kudos/comment/bookmark/etc. if you enjoyed, and if you want to share itd mean the world to me  
> i hope you enjoyed! til next friday (hopefully)!


	8. little homeworld

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cam had been waiting all day for a chance to use the warp.
> 
> One of the first rules Steven had given her when they got there was that she couldn’t use the warp without him or one of the Gems, in case she went to the wrong place or couldn’t activate it to get home. He’d also established that the galaxy warp in what had basically been his Diamond base when he was younger was off-limits.
> 
> But on their way home from dinner, Steven had asked if they wanted to go to Little Homeworld-- and mentioned to Cam that she could warp them there if she wanted to try warping.
> 
> \---
> 
> or: a visit to little homeworld & the introduction of a certain quartz!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is yet another chapter that was split up bc i didnt like how it was working out as a single chapter jhgfjgk but it's a long chapter so!  
> enjoy!  
> EDIT: i COMPLETELY forgot to replace some placeholders near the end of the chapter so fixed that (thank u tlok_is_bad for letting me know)!! i finished writing this like a week ago and moved on to another wip so i COMPLETELY forgot to check that

Cam had been waiting all day for a chance to use the warp.

One of the first rules Steven had given her when they got there was that she couldn’t use the warp without him or one of the Gems, in case she went to the wrong place or couldn’t activate it to get home. He’d also established that the galaxy warp in what had basically been his Diamond base when he was younger was off-limits.

She hadn’t been able to sit still when they were out for dinner at Fish Stew Pizza. Steven had introduced them to Kiki, who he was surprised to find out had ownership of the restaurant passed onto her, and to Bixbite. He’d asked where someone named Jenny was, and was told she was out of town.

But on their way home, Steven had asked if they wanted to go to Little Homeworld-- and mentioned to Cam that she could warp them there if she wanted to try warping.

So she had run ahead, Nora chasing after her, feet slipping in the sand. At one point, the sand pulling down the back of her flip flops managed to trip her completely, and she got a face full of sand. When she lifted her head back up, Nora had passed her, smiling, so she stood up, spitting sand out of her mouth, and continued to run, kicking her flip flops off on the way. 

Nora jumped onto the stairs, in a failed attempt to show off her new floating power. She’d told Cam about it, hands flapping and smile wide, right after it had happened. Steven had been standing behind her with exhaustion clear on his face from the sudden adrenaline rush and subsequent crash. When she suggested jumping off the balcony at the front of the house into the sand below to show Cam, he had immediately shut it down. 

So she’d been jumping around all day, trying to activate it every time. This time was no different.

Cam laughed as she reached the stairs right behind her, shoving past her through the door. She stepped on the warp pad, triumphant. 

“I beat you!” she exclaimed, pointing at Nora and sticking out her tongue. Nora returned the gesture, sticking her own tongue out. 

Cam laughed, sitting on the edge of the warp pad to wait for the adults and Amethyst, who had been the only Gem to go for dinner with them. (Steven had explained that full Gems don’t have to eat, and Amethyst was the only Crystal Gem to actively seek out and enjoy food.) Nora sat down next to her.

They weren’t sitting for long.  
  
After a few seconds, there was a _whoosh_ , and the two girls scrambled off to the side of the warp pad to see the bright blue light signifying its use. 

“It’s probably the B Squad,” Nora said. The three Crystal Gems that stayed in Little Homeworld instead of the beach house had adopted that name for themselves, a subset of the main three Crystal Gems. Cam nodded in agreement. She’d been told stories of them, and if this meant she got to meet them before even going to Little Homeworld, she wouldn’t complain.

Instead, the warp stream cleared to reveal a tall, muscular Gem, orange with turquoise spots. There were darker stripes along her body, a few of them broken in places, alongside two horns, one of which was broken. Her Gem shined in place of a nose.

“Jasper,” Nora whispered.

At the noise, the Gem (Jasper?) turned her gaze from straight ahead to the two girls. Cam glanced over at Nora, who looked somewhat terrified-- her knees pulled up, eyes wide, face in a panicked, open-mouth smile.

She looked back at the Gem. 

“Who are you two?” the Gem asked, her voice low and gravely.

Nora let out a startled squeak at being addressed, shuffling back a bit. Cam, on the other hand, stood up, barely reaching the Gem’s waist. She looked up at her, holding a hand out.

“I’m Camellia! You can call me Cam,” she said, smiling. Her eye caught on a detail on the Gem’s clothing that she hadn’t noticed before-- a star, with three smaller ones on each side, the diagonal lines making an inverted triangle on her chest. The stars were something she’d noticed on multiple other Gems’ clothing, all belonging to a certain group.   
  


“Are you a Crystal Gem?”

The Gem huffed, rolling her shoulders a bit and straightening her back. “What’s it to you?”

Cam’s smile widened. She grabbed onto the bottom of her shirt, stretching it out and pointing at the sequined star on it. “I want to be a Crystal Gem too!”

She let out a low chuckle. “Tough luck, then, runt. You don’t--”

Her sentence was cut off by the door opening. The three inside turned to look at the door, where Steven was standing, eyes wide and jaw just barely opened.

“ _Jasper?_ ”

Cam was starting to think that was the Gem’s name.

Jasper stiffened slightly, her arms going up in a cross with her wrists bent to make a diamond with her hands. Steven immediately waved his hands in an “X” across his chest. 

“No, no, please don’t,” he said, stepping into the building and putting on a smile that seemed somewhat forced. Jasper’s arms fell as Connie and Lea followed him inside, both looking stiff, with Amethyst at the back. “I wasn’t expecting to see you here. You look different.”

“Yeah, and? What’s your point, Universe?”

“Nothing! Nothing,” Steven said. 

Amethyst spoke up at that. “Yo, dude, did we not tell you? Jasper joined the Crystal Gems.”

“Wait, seriously?” Steven looked between Amethyst and Jasper. Amethyst nodded, and Jasper smirked at him with her arms crossed. “Wow. Uh, congratulations, Jasper. Welcome to the group. The stars aren’t a bad look for you.”

“I know,” Jasper responded. “Who’re the runts, huh?”

“Uh, that’s Camellia and Nora.” He gestured to both of them accordingly. “Nora’s my daughter, and Cam’s Lea’s.” At the last part, he gestured to Lea, still standing stiff behind him.

At the introduction of Lea, Jasper finally stepped off the warp pad, walking over until she stood in front of her. She pointed a finger at Lea’s chest, looking down at her.

“Your daughter thinks she can be a Crystal Gem. We’ve only made exceptions for _one_ human. She can’t be a Crystal Gem without a Gem.”

“Hey!” Cam said, not moving from her spot next to the warp pad. “I have a Gem!”

Jasper laughed. “Sure you do, runt.”

“I do!” Cam insisted, pushing her bangs up to let her Gem show. 

The room was silent for a few seconds. Then, Jasper’s smirk twisted into a scowl as she crossed her arms and stepped to the side of the group. She mumbled something that made Amethyst start laughing, Steven giving a small chuckle, but Cam couldn’t hear it from across the room.

Once Amethyst was finished laughing, she looked over to Steven and Connie. “Sorry, dudes. Forgot to warn you she’d be here. It’s Sis Game Night.” She gestured over to where the TV sat on the coffee table, an old game system Cam couldn’t recognize set up. 

“It’s alright,” Steven said, giving a reassuring smile. “We’re heading out to Little Homeworld, so we won’t get in your way. With that, he started walking towards the warp pad, Connie once again following while Lea hesitated. Connie gestured for her to follow, and she did.

“See ya later,” Amethyst said, walking over to the couch and hopping onto it, grabbing the TV remote off of one of the cushions.

“Cam?” Steven asked. “You wanted to try warping, right?”

Cam nodded, hopping onto the warp pad beside him while Nora got up and followed suit. 

“Okay, so-- warp pads are basically just networks of energy used for transport,” Steven explained. “It’s a lot more complicated than that, but that’s the basics. So you just need to latch onto that energy, and think about it taking you to where you need to go.”

Cam nodded. Now that he mentioned the energy part, she could feel the buzzing of the warp beneath her feet. It felt like it was travelling straight through her body to her Gem.

Taking that buzzing feeling, she tried to latch onto it like Steven had told her to, furrowing her brow a little as she looked down at her feet. The buzzing seemed to get stronger, grounding its presence in her Gem.

Then, she thought about it taking her where she wanted to go-- Little Homeworld.

And just like that, the warp pad activated, the solid crystal beneath her feet fading away to a similar, but different, bright blue. Steven pressed a hand to her shoulder just as she felt her feet leaving the closest thing to solid ground she had in that moment. 

Within seconds, it was over, the bright blue fading away once again to a colorful city and its colorful inhabitants, lit by the setting sun.

“ _Woah,_ ” Cam whispered, looking around at the city. Steven and Connie ushered the group off of the warp with a few gentle touches to their back.

“Welcome to Little Homeworld!” a Gem greeted, a shut-eyed smile on her face between two circular Gems covering both of her cheeks. She was holding a stack of pamphlets in one of her three arms. “I’m Rhodolite. Is there anything I can--” Her offer was cut short as she opened her eyes to see the group in front of her. Specifically, one member. 

“ _Steven Universe?!_ ”

Steven chuckled quietly, putting a hand to the back of his neck. “Yep, that’s me.”

The conversation devolved into the Gem frantically thanking Steven for all the help he’d been to Gemkind, all while waving her arms and apologizing for not recognizing him, no matter how many times he told her she didn’t have anything to apologize for.

“Again, I am _so_ sorry, Mr. Universe, and if there’s anything, anything at _all_ I can do for you, please let me know.”

“Well, there is one thing. Do you know where Lapis, Peridot, and Bismuth are?”

“They should be at the top of the tower!” The Gem gestured to the tower with the spinning… thing on top. 

“Thank you,” Steven said. “Have a great night, Rhodolite!”

The Gem smiled, waving with all three of her arms as they left. 

The group walked through the streets of Little Homeworld towards the tower. Cam could hear disbelieving whispers from the Gems they passed, some Gems pressing themselves against their windows when they noticed them. In a strange way, their admiration of Steven reminded her of when she was younger-- even though these gems were hundreds of years older than her.

No one stopped them on their way, though, and soon enough, they were hopping on the elevator up to the top of the tower. It was strange, seeing something so familiar after meeting so many Gems and travelling via warp technology.

They reached the top of the tower after being in the elevator for about a minute. Cam could hear people talking-- four or five of them, it sounded like. The B-Team must have a visitor.

Sure enough, once her eyes found the Gems, they found two others as well-- a medium-sized, slim Gem, covered in purple and blue with her Gem on the back of her left hand, and a taller, broader yellow Gem, with her Gem on the back of her head.

A Gem that looked a lot like the one embedded in Cam’s forehead.

“Well, we’ll have Peridot verify your schedules, and then you’ll be all set. Welcome to Little Homeschool, Topaz and Blueberry!” 

Cam’s thoughts were immediately validated. The Gem standing in front of her was a Topaz, like her mom had been. The dynamics of Topaz partnerships had been explained to her a long time ago, when she brought up dreams of being with another person in the same body to Steven.

The placement of this Topaz’s Gem made her wonder.

She waited until they were truly finished talking before she approached them. 

She tapped a hand against Topaz’s wrist to grab her attention. Once the large Gem was looking down at her, she held out her hand.

  
“Hi,” she said. “I’m Camellia. I think you might’ve known my mom.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ty for reading!! pls kudos/comment/bookmark/whatever!!  
> my tumblr is demi-fool, and my su tumblr is gemi-fool!  
> see yall next friday !


	9. topaz

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I think you might've known my mom."
> 
> \---
> 
> or: a meeting with an old friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im not rlly happy with this chapter but idk how else to handle it and it's good enough lmao  
> it's a lil shorter than usual but! yknow what it was meant to be part of last chapter originally so it's fine jkfhdhj  
> tw: death ig?? it's not really outright mentioned AS death but it's there.   
> anyways enjoy

Topaz paused, a line forming between her eyebrows. “I don’t think so. I don’t know many humans, I’m new to Earth.”

Cam shook her head. “Mom wasn’t human,” she explained, reaching up to push her bangs back.

Steven was behind her in an instant, gently grabbing her hand, stopping her before she could reach her forehead.

“Sorry about that,” Steven said. “You’re new to Earth, you said? Welcome, I think you’ll like it here.” He smiled.

Cam was… more than a little confused, honestly, as she looked behind her, up at Steven. Why had he stopped her? Maybe Topaz knows what Mom’s weapon was. That would be super helpful for visualization.

There was no pause in Topaz’s response this time. “Steven Universe?”

“Yeah, that’d be me,” he confirmed. “Are you enrolling in Little Homeschool?”

Cam looked back at Topaz as she nodded. “Bismuth was just helping me with my schedule. It’s my first year.”

Steven hummed. “That’s great. I really think you’ll enjoy it.”

“I hope so.” There was a small pause in the conversation before Topaz continued, “Well, I think I should get going. It was great meeting you, Steven. And you too, Camellia.”

With that, Topaz looked over to Blueberry, giving a small nod before they walked past the group and to the elevator. In following Topaz, Cam noticed that Lea’s gaze was following her as well, a melancholic expression on her face.

As soon as the elevator doors were shut behind the two Gems, Cam turned to Steven. “Why’d you stop me?” she whined. “Topaz might know what Mom’s weapon was! Then I could figure out how to summon mine!”

“She might not know that your mom had a daughter,” Steven said. “It might upset her. If you want, we can try to talk to her later, but not in public, alright?”

Cam’s eyes shifted to the ground, then crossed as she tried to look up at her Gem, to no avail. She just wanted to know if Topaz knew her mom.

After a moment, she nodded, even though she really didn’t understand.

“Ahem.” 

Cam turned around at the voice to see a green Gem, around her height with a triangular Gem in her forehead. Peridot, Cam assumed. She assumed that the Gems standing behind her were Bismuth and Lapis.

“Are you going to introduce us, Steven?” Peridot asked, looking up at the taller hybrid.

Steven chuckled lightly. “Yeah, sorry. Lapis, Peridot, Bismuth, this is Cam. Cam, this is Lapis, Peridot, and Bismuth.”

“This is the kid we’ve heard so much about, huh?” As Lapis and Peridot simply waved, Bismuth stepped closer to Cam before squatting down to her height. “Nice to meet you, Cam. Always glad to have new recruits.”

She held out her hand, and Cam took it, finding a strangely familiar buzzing in the gentle handshake Bismuth gave her.

“It’s nice to meet you too, Bismuth,” she responded with a smile.

Bismuth let go of Cam’s hand, standing back up to her full height. “Well, what plans do we have, huh? It’s your first day in town, right?”

Steven nodded. “It’s been a while since I’ve been in Little Homeworld. Anything new around to see?”

“Oh!” Peridot spoke up. “We’ve been researching eco-friendly ways to make new Gems!  _ And _ we planted a new garden.  _ And _ we’ve continued research into returning life to the old Kindergartens.”

Steven nodded. “The garden sounds like a good place to start.”

“Then what are we waiting for?” 

With that comment, the group, with the added B-Team, stepped back into the elevator, heading back down and being guided by the Gems to the new garden.

The garden seemed closer to a maze than anything, with flowering bushes that Cam couldn’t recognize surrounding them in connecting paths. Even with the maze it created, the B-Team led them through with confidence, towards the center where a fountain, complete with a statue, was built. They weren’t close enough to make out what the statue was at first, but as they got closer, Cam heard Steven chuckle quietly.

Once they were a little closer, she could tell why. The fountain was of a younger Steven, eyes closed with a peaceful smile and arms held out to his sides. It held a peaceful, gentle aura, but Cam could see why Steven seemed a little embarrassed. It had to be weird being constantly hailed as the savior of the universe.

“Wow, guys, this is, uh.” He chuckled quietly again. “This is really nice.”

“It has Diamond essence in it!” Peridot said. “So we can heal any corrupted Gems we find here! Greg didn’t seem to enjoy us using the bathroom.”

Steven nodded. “Did Mom’s fountain run out?” 

“It was getting close to it,” Bismuth answered. 

Cam tuned out the conversation. As interesting as Gem stuff was, this just seemed boring. Diamond essences and fountains and whatever corrupted Gems were.

Her eyes drifted, and as she looked around, she spotted a familiar yellow Gem in the maze surrounding the fountain.

“Well, if you need any more, just let me know-- Cam?”

Cam didn’t turn around at Steven’s call, instead continuing to head towards Topaz, trying her best to not get stuck in the maze. Even with the bushes being short enough to see over, it was still hard to tell what path led where from Cam’s height.

Footsteps behind her made her turn, first thinking it was Steven. Instead, she found Nora following behind her. Steven still trying to wave them back from the center. He hadn’t started following them yet.

“What’re you doing?” Nora asked.

“I think Topaz might’ve known Mom,” Cam told her, to which Nora nodded. 

Steven had started following them now, and Cam started walking faster, taking Nora’s hand in hers as she continued making her way through the bush paths towards Topaz.

She managed to not get lost, with the help of Nora, who had a good few inches on her, occasionally calling out which way to go. Steven was still managing to catch up (darn his longer legs), but Cam and Nora reached Topaz before he reached them.

Topaz was looking at one of the flowers on the bushes, gently pushing at its petals. It took her a moment to notice the two girls standing beside her, but once she did, she took her hand away from the petals, looking down at them.

“Can I help you?” she asked, a small smile on her face.

“I  _ really _ think you might’ve known my mom,” Cam said. Her hand reached up to her bangs.

“Camellia--” Steven’s voice caught as she pushed her bangs up, Topaz’s eyes widening slightly, her already-small smile shrinking.

There was silence for a moment. Topaz stared; Nora kept holding onto Cam’s hand, whose grip was tightening; Steven stood, hand reached out halfway towards Cam.

The silence was broken by a quiet sigh from Topaz, who smiled gently, kneeling one leg at a time to Cam’s height. Her eyes didn’t go to meet Cam’s, instead sticking to the Gem on her forehead, and Cam could see a few tears gathering in them. Her hands fidgeted at her chest, unsure.

After a moment, her eyes shifted back to meet Cam’s.

“You’re Topaz’s daughter, huh?” she asked, gentle.

Cam nodded. “Did you know her?”   
  
Topaz closed her eyes, wiping one with a gentle finger before nodding. “I worked with her, for a while. We were made for each other.”

Cam’s confusion at that statement must’ve shown on her face, because Topaz laughed, a quiet, airy sound, before specifying, “In the literal sense. We were made to work together.” 

Cam nodded. That, she understood. 

She heard another set of footsteps behind her, and felt a hand come to rest on her shoulder. A glance up showed that it was her mom.

Topaz looked up as well, taking a moment to get back on her feet. “You’re her human parent, I’m guessing?” 

“Yes,” Lea confirmed. “I’m Lea. You were Topaz’s partner, right?” Topaz nodded. “She told me about you.”

Topaz laughed again, sadness creeping into it a bit more. “I wish I could say the same, but…”

“You drifted apart, I know. Don’t worry.”

“I’d love to get to know you now. Cam too.”

Cam glanced between the two. There was a matching kind of sadness in each of their eyes, but still, they smiled.

“I’d be happy to, and I’m sure Cam would too.”

Topaz looked back down to Cam, her hand coming to rest on her other shoulder. 

“Topaz would’ve loved you,” she said, and Cam smiled. 

“I know,” she responded. But still, it felt good to have someone who she knew looked so similar to her mother say it.

It felt good to find her mother’s old friend. 

And when Topaz kneeled back down and pulled Cam into a gentle hug, she returned it, and it felt even better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope u enjoyed!! pls kudos/comment/bookmark if you did   
> hopefully i can keep up the update schedule hfkdg i have a oneshot i got too attached to and spent most of the week working on so i wrote this in like, two hours


	10. a shine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cam was settling in for the night, nestled under the covers of the bed, when she realized something.
> 
> She’d forgotten to ask Topaz about her mom’s weapon.
> 
> \---
> 
> or: Cam learns about her mom's weapon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> woo another friday another chapter  
> i might take a short hiatus after this, but probably not considering 1) when i take hiatus i tend to not go back and i dont want to abandon this fic, and 2) school starts in less than 2 weeks for me so itd probably only make me fall behind more  
> but if i do decide to take a hiatus this is your notice fjdgh   
> anyways enjoy the chapter!!

Cam and Topaz spent a long time talking after that. 

Or, well. They spent half an hour talking, before Steven said that they should get going if they wanted to see more of Little Homeworld before they had to head back to the beach house for bed.

But Topaz had gotten both Steven and Lea’s numbers, and promised that she’d look into getting her own phone to keep in contact. 

Cam was settling in for the night, nestled under the covers of the bed, when she realized something.

She’d forgotten to ask Topaz about her mom’s weapon.

The covers fell back to the bed as she rushed up, heading downstairs to where Steven, Connie, Greg, and Lea were talking. They looked up as she reached the bottom of the stairs, slipping a little but managing to right herself before she fell over.

“Moooom! Steeeveeen!” she whined. “I forgot to ask Topaz about Mom’s weapon!”

“Oh, we could probably ask the B-Team to get us back in contact tomorrow,” Steven suggested. “Since she’ll probably need a while to get a phone.”

Lea nodded. “It’s too late to do anything about it right now. You should go get some rest.”

Cam pouted, but headed back up the stairs anyways. They were right-- they didn’t have time to do anything about it tonight. 

Tomorrow, then.

\---

“Topaz isn’t in Little Homeworld today,” Bismuth said. “She said she wanted to finish some things up back on Homeworld before she starts classes tomorrow. Sorry, Steven.”

Cam pouted again. “But if she starts classes she’s going to be busy all week!”

“How about this,” Bismuth suggested, “I’ll ask her about your mom’s weapon when I see her for my weapon-making class tomorrow, and pass it on to you. That sound good, kid?” She smiled down at her, and Cam paused before nodding. 

\---

  
Cam was playing an old fighting game with Amethyst when the warp activated and Bismuth appeared, wiping her forehead with a sigh.

“Bismuth!” She shot up off of the couch immediately, while Amethyst took advantage of her absence to beat her character. “Did you find out what Mom’s weapon was?”   
  


Bismuth nodded. “It’s the same as Topaz’s, and I got her permission to take a picture of it after class.” She pulled out her phone, tapping for a second before showing it to Cam. 

Topaz was shown on the screen, holding a weapon almost as tall as her. On one end, it had a small, golden cylinder, that, at its end, extended into a point. Its flat end connected to a brown pole, leading to a small disc of the same color. On top of the disc was a hexagonal prism, once again sharpening into a point at its end, but at a much sharper angle.

“It’s a spear,” Cam said, to which Bismuth nodded.

“Pearl’s got a spear, too, but hers is more meant for slashing. Topaz’s looks like it’s meant for stabbing, with the capability for blunt force as well.”

Cam nodded, finger to her chin, before immediately reaching up to her Gem and trying to pull out the weapon she could see in front of her.

Bismuth quickly stepped back, watching, and she could hear the game pause and Amethyst adjust to look over behind her.

There’s a glow from above Cam’s eyes as she kept the image stuck in her head, imagining pulling it out and having it in her hands.

_ Come on, come  _ on… 

She grasped onto the handle of something, and quietly gasped as she tried to pull it out. She could see the smaller end of the spear just above her eyes.

No such luck. It’s tugged back into her Gem, her grip slipping as the glowing stopped.

“Aw, come on!”

“Hey, don’t sweat it, Cam,” Amethyst said, walking over and putting an arm around her shoulders. “Steven took a while to get used to summoning his shield, too. Give yourself time to practice, and eventually--” Amethyst’s Gem started glowing, and she reached a hand towards it-- “wha- _ bam! _ ” 

Amethyst’s whip hit the ground in front of them, and Cam stared at it for a moment, mouth open in amazement at the ease with which she summoned it. Then, her eyes traveled back up to meet the Gem’s, who was smiling wide at her.

“It’ll be reflex one day, dude! Don’t worry!”

Cam nodded, smiling back at her.

It’ll be reflex one day.

\---

The biggest question Cam had was  _ when _ that one day was supposed to be.

It’d already been four months since they’d visited Beach City, and even with weekly training, she still hadn’t gotten any farther than she had that first day. She hadn’t even been able to replicate that again. Every time she tried to summon it, she’d reach for the stick and feel nothing.

“Cam, hey, it’s alright,” Steven reassured her, getting on one knee in front of her and putting a hand on her shoulder. “It took me a while to get my shield to work when I wanted it to, too. You’re learning, there’s nothing wrong with that.”

Cam sighed, looking down at the grass beneath her feet. “I guess.”

“How about this: since your powers are based in visualization, maybe it’d help for you to draw your weapon?” 

Cam looked back up at him, took a second to think, and then nodded.

It couldn’t hurt.

Steven called over to Connie, who was training Nora across the yard, before heading inside, Cam following behind him. He pulled out a small stack of printer paper from a drawer in the living room, alongside a mechanical pencil, and handed it over to Cam.

“Let me know if you want to see the photo for reference,” Steven told her as he took a seat. Bismuth had sent him the picture when they were still in Beach City.

“No, I’m okay.” Cam grabbed one of the pieces of paper and the pencil, pulled it over to her, and put lead to paper.

The next thing she knew, there were five crumbled-up balls of paper next to her, and her head was on the table. Steven shot her a sympathetic look.

“Hey, it’s alright, you’ve got the image in your head, right?”

Cam looked up, barely lifting her forehead off of the table. “Yeah, but I can’t  _ draw it _ right. No wonder I can’t summon it,” she grumbled, dropping her pencil and pushing it so it rolled away from her.

He chuckled a little. “I don’t think artistic ability has any correlation with summoning your weapon.”

“But I should be able to draw it!” She lifted her head fully, pushing herself away from the table with a shove. Her chair wobbled a bit, but stayed upright. “I can visualize it, I should be able to draw it!”

“Hey, hey, it’s okay,” Steven said, meeting Cam’s eyes before making a familiar gesture, his hand moving in towards his chest as he took a deep breath. Cam huffed, but followed suit, taking a few deep breaths in sync with Steven.

“Maybe we should take a break for today,” Steven suggested, once she’d calmed down. “I can send Lea the picture so you can practice drawing your weapon, if you want?”

Cam looked down at the table, clenching her hands into fists on her lap, but nodded. “Okay.”

\---

Two months later, even with the weekly practices, Cam still hadn’t made any progress. 

Part of her was starting to worry if the first time summoning her weapon was merely a fluke, but the other part of her  _ knew _ she did it once. She could do it again.

It took a month to perfect drawing her weapon, and she still wasn’t great at doing it from all angles-- but she knew what it looks like now, and she knew she can fully visualize it. She’d been practicing drawing it so much that it had begun to take the number-one spot from eye doodles for the most-drawn image on her schoolwork. 

Today, she and Steven had started with meditation-- something that’d become more common as an opening for their training sessions lately. She’d found that it’s easier to visualize when she’d taken some time to think and clear her head.

Now, she was back to practicing summoning her weapon.

Steven had stepped away a minute ago to grab Connie and Nora a drink, and from what Cam could see, he’d gotten roped into Nora’s training-- mostly to show off some of the more complicated, duo-based moves he and Connie knew. Nora was watching intently, and Cam was a bit jealous that she couldn’t do the same, but she had her own training to do. She wanted to get this  _ right. _

She closed her eyes, taking a few deep breaths. The image of her weapon was practically seared into the back of her eyelids at this point. She could see every single drawing she’d ever made of it, alongside the original image.

All that was left to do was reach to her Gem, imagine it being there, and pull it out.

Reach to her Gem. Inhale.

Imagine it being there. Exhale.

Pull it out. Inhale.

Her hands wrapped around something, and her focus on her breathing was broken as her eyes shot open. She tightened her grip, pulling on the stick she could feel between her hands and just barely see coming out of her forehead, come on, come  _ on-- _

She pulled it all the way out, and she held in her grip a spear identical to the one Topaz held in the picture, identical to the one she’d been drawing over and over for months.

“Steven!” she yelled, and he looked over, he and Connie pausing in their steps. 

Steven’s face lit up, a wide smile taking over as he threw his arms, shield held tightly in his left hand, in the air in celebration. “You did it!”

“I did it!” Cam exclaimed in response. She held the spear out so it’s vertical, parallel to her body, before going to show Steven, Connie, and Nora the weapon up close, as they walked towards her.

She had barely taken a step when she felt it disappear in her hands.

She immediately looked down at her empty hands, face falling. “No, come on, I did it, I  _ had _ it!” Tears well in her eyes as she reached towards her Gem. “I  _ had it! _ ”

Then, Steven was there, and he placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Hey, calm down, alright? Deep breaths.” He repeated the same gesture as he always did, leading her in a few deep breaths. “I had the same issue when I first summoned my shield,” he tells her. “It didn’t last that long. It was gone almost as soon as it had formed. That’s how it happens sometimes.” He offered her a reassuring smile. “It’ll be alright. Now you know you can fully summon it, at least, right? You just need more practice.”

She wiped her eyes and nodded. Steven ruffled her hair.

“Do you want to keep trying?” he asked. She shook her head. She didn’t want to deal with another near-success that ends up a failure. “Alright, that’s alright. We can try again next week. I’m going to keep helping Connie and Nora for a bit, and then maybe we can work on shapeshifting, alright?” Cam nodded again. She  _ had  _ been wanting to practice shapeshifting more, anyways. “Alright. You can stay out here or head inside. We’ll be done soon, then I’ll come get you.”

Cam nodded, and walked away, hands hanging by her sides in defeat. She had gotten so  _ close _ . 

\---

When Steven said she just needed practice, she was hoping it would go a little faster.

Almost half a year later, and Cam was a year older, her birthday having passed in March, but she was still struggling to keep her weapon summoned for more than a few seconds. She was improving, she knew that, but she couldn’t help but feel disappointed that the improvement was taking so long. She just wanted to be able to fully summon it already.

“One more try with your weapon, alright?” Steven said, and she squinted against the early May sun as she looked up at him. She nodded with a small sigh. She’d been trying to summon her weapon all day. 

Still, she closed her eyes, visualizing it again as she held her hands near her gem. She took a few deep breaths, focusing on the image.

The summoning itself had gotten faster, even if the duration hadn’t grown much. A little under three seconds after she’d closed her eyes, they were open again, and her weapon was in hand.

“Alright, try to keep it for as long as you can,” Steven instructed. She always tried to keep it for as long as she could. The instruction was a bit redundant.

Her hands tightened around the weapon, and she could feel the light buzzing she’d learned was hard light against her hands.

She counted out five seconds in her head. Then ten. She couldn’t usually hold it much longer than that, so even as she focused on keeping the buzzing in her grip, she braced herself for its disappearance.

But it never came. Another five, ten, fifteen seconds, and her spear was still in her grip with no sign of leaving.

She focused her gaze back on Steven, who’s watching her, stars in his eyes as he held his hands over a smile.

“It’s not going away,” she said, a small smile forming as she realizes:  _ she’s done it. _

“It’s not going away!” Steven responded, his arms lifted above his head as he gave a cheer for Cam.

It wasn’t going away.

It wasn’t going away!

Cam swung her weapon, as solid as hard light can get, through the air, and Steven stepped away, giving her extra space as she did so. She stabbed it forward through the air, and the movement felt natural.

“It’s  _ not going away! _ ” she cheered once more, holding the weapon in one hand above her head.

She’d done it! She’d done it! 

“ _ YES! _ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the ending feels kinda cheesy but yknow it works, she's literally 12  
> see yall w the next update!

**Author's Note:**

> hope u enjoyed!! pls leave kudos/bookmark/comment if u did it means a lot to me :"))  
> my su tumblr is gemi-fool! i'll prolly post art of camellia, nora, lea, and my versions of older steven and connie there even if camellias the only one w even a concept design so far dfhgjkfd  
> next update might take a bit, the next chapters written but i wanna try and plot stuff out and maybe design more characters dfhjgd  
> EDIT 5/8/20: again hope u enjoyed, if u missed the og first chapter and you want to read it it's up on my su tumblr hjdfkg.  
> shoutout to my beta reader, they're trillwavesdrip on tumblr!


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